


One Day

by hmweasley



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure, Fandom 5K 2020, Gen, Jedi History, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: Luke brings Ben along for a road trip of sorts, but Ben is less than thrilled that Lor will be tagging along too. What use could someone who's not even Force-sensitive be?
Relationships: Ben Solo & Lor San Tekka, Luke Skywalker & Ben Solo, Luke Skywalker & Ben Solo & Lor San Tekka, Luke Skywalker & Lor San Tekka
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	One Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aurae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/gifts).



> Hi, Aurae! I really loved the Luke & Ben & Lor prompt you gave because it sounded fascinating, and I really wanted to write it. It seemed challenging in the best possible way because it's quite different from what I usually try, but I hope my attempt is at least somewhat close to what you were picturing!

Ben stared at the other children as they laughed with each other over breakfast. They were new recruits—the first actually—at the Jedi Academy his uncle had hoped to establish before he’d even taken Ben as an apprentice, and Ben wasn’t used to having them around yet. Things had been different when it was just him and his uncle. The younger children were always watching him, and he wasn’t sure to make of the looks.

Did they admire him because he was further along in his training? Or because he was related to Luke?

Sometimes he wondered if there wasn’t a hint of distrust in their looks, and it made him uneasy.

He’d thought having other kids around would be fun and exciting. He hadn’t been able to spend much time around other kids since he’d begun traveling with Luke, and there was finally a chance of making new friends, but that wasn’t what had happened. It wasn’t until the first several children had been there a month that Ben realized his uncle was purposefully keeping him at a distance.

They noticed too. Ben saw it in their looks.

As he stood at the side of the room watching the other children as they ate and laughed with each other, Ben was envious of the quick friendships they’d formed in the short time they’d known each other. He had yet to learn a single one of them’s name.

They’d be watched over while he and Luke were gone, but Ben still worried about what their training would look like with their master gone. He didn’t know them well enough to trust that they’d work as hard without someone there to push them.

Luke approached him from behind and clapped him on the shoulder, startling Ben from his thoughts.

“We’ll only be gone a few months,” Luke reminded him with a small smile. “And this place will be well protected while we’re gone.”

He nodded towards the older inhabitants of their little school, some of whom were old enough to be Ben’s parent. They were too old to train as Jedi, but they were Force-sensitive. It was important enough in their lives that they’d agreed to follow Luke and help him with the school despite not becoming Jedi themselves. They were also fond of the children, including Ben, and Ben was sure that the children would be well taken care of in the physical sense. It was their spirituality that he was worried about.

“They’re not trained in the ways of the Force,” Ben pointed out, gesturing towards the adults. “How will the children learn anything with you gone, Uncle?”

Luke shook his head as if Ben had asked a stupid question. Ben hated when he did that but bit his tongue like a good apprentice should when it came to such matters.

“Rest assured, I’ve given them their fair share of homework,” Luke said, giving Ben’s shoulder a couple of pats before he released it. “You’re too young to be worrying about things like that, Ben. You’re going to see more of the Galaxy! Aren’t you excited?”

Ben rolled his eyes.

“When Leia Organa is your mother,” he said matter-of-factly, “you’ve seen plenty of the galaxy before you’re old enough to walk.”

It was a bit of an exaggeration of course. The Galaxy was large, and Ben was young. Neither of his parents had brought him along on every trip they’d made. He was sure, however, that he’d seen more of it than most his age. The only area he hadn’t been—the only place he still really wanted to see—was the Unknown Regions, but Luke had so far declined taking him there.

“Maybe I’d be excited if we weren’t going to Naboo,” Ben said, contorting his face as he named the planet.

Luke gave a short laugh and shook his head.

“There’s nothing wrong with Naboo,” he said. “It’s a perfectly fine planet. You’ve seen holograms. Large swaths of the place are absolutely gorgeous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Ben agreed, “except being boring. Not all of us grew up on Tatooine. Green doesn’t mesmerize everyone.”

Luke huffed, but he didn’t voice any further argument. They both knew that Ben was too stubborn to give up, though Luke often matched him comment for comment.

His gaze shifted to something behind Ben. Ben didn’t need to turn around to sense Lor approaching. He scowled.

The trip itself was bad enough; he’d been even more aggravated when he’d learned that Lor, who wasn’t even Force-sensitive, would be tagging along. Luke claimed the man was useful, but Ben didn’t understand how. Sometimes he wondered if he was missing something about the man. He reached out to the Force, trying to find something significant about the man, but just as before, he got nothing.

“The ship is ready,” Lor said as he reached them, coming around to make sure that he was in Ben’s line of sight.

Ben didn’t acknowledge his presence as Luke nodded.

“Thank you, Lor. It seems that my nephew still isn’t excited about seeing Naboo. It’s too boring for such a well-traveled man as himself.”

Lor chuckled, and Ben clenched his jaw. It was always like that when Lor was around. He never took anything Ben said or did seriously, and Ben’s uncle did the same. Suddenly, Ben because someone to take less seriously than he did otherwise.

“Is that so, young Jedi?” Lor asked, a twinkle in his eye. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Naboo is only our first stop after all. We don’t know yet what places we’ll see. The Outer Rim has plenty of fascinating worlds, and it’s not far from Naboo.”

Ben finally looked at him, his face impassive. The look of amusement on Lor’s face didn’t change. He smiled back as if Ben were happy to see him.

“The only place worth visiting is the Unknown Regions,” Ben said, looking the old man straight in the eye. “Everywhere else is the same. Each planet claims it has traits that make it unique, but it’s all the Republic. Only the Unknown Regions have a shred of individuality left.”

Lor raised an eyebrow at him but looked at Luke instead of commenting. Ben wondered, not for the first time, if Lor would have said more to him if it weren’t for Luke’s presence. Often, it seemed like the old man was holding back, but he never spoke the full extent of his thoughts to Ben. If there could be one good thing to come from the trip, it would be poking at Lor until he finally spoke his true mind.

“I believe you’re in charge of the itinerary, Master Luke,” Lor said. “Is a visit to the Unknown Regions in order?”

Luke laughed. Ben rolled his eyes. They’d already had this argument more than once, and he didn’t want to hear his uncle’s dismissive words again.

“As you’ve already pointed out, Lor, there’s plenty to see in the Outer Rim,” he said, clapping Ben on the shoulder. “The Unknown Regions will wait for another day.”

The two men laughed, and Ben stewed, his gaze finding the young Jedi padawans who were gathered in a group and laughing. They wouldn’t be leaving the desolate planet they currently occupied, but Ben thought they’d have far more fun than he would.

He didn’t let himself glance back at the happy scene as he followed his uncle and Lor to the ship.

* * *

Ben’s eyes scanned the landscape as they exited the ship. There was no civilization in sight; Luke had planned it that way. They weren’t on Naboo to take in the usual spots, but the Naboo countryside that they found themselves in was exactly what Ben had expected. It looked like one of the holograms people on Coruscant used to pretend they had nature.

While it was picturesque, it wasn’t different enough from other planets to impress Ben. The Jedi school he’d helped Luke build was surrounded by nature, and he like the place for what it represented. What surrounded it was of little consequence, but if he’d wanted this experience, he’d have just stayed there.

Lor stretched his arms wide and breathed in the Naboo air, a large smile on his face as he tilted his head towards the sky.

“Naboo never disappoints,” he said, turning to Luke and Ben. “Each time I visit the weather is impeccable, and the people are some of the friendliest in the galaxy.”

Ben scoffed.

“What does that matter? We’re not going to see any of them anyway.”

Luke raised an eyebrow.

“Last I checked, you didn’t care for the people anyway,” he said, nudging Ben’s shoulder. “You were more interested in Jedi history.”

Ben scowled and pushed his uncle’s hand away.

“That doesn’t matter either. What Jedi history is there on Naboo? The Jedi hardly had a presence here. There are no old temples or anything. Why can’t you two just admit that you’re nothing more than old men on some kind of idyllic vacation for their retirement?”

Lor laughed and turned from the pair of them, wandering off across the field that their ship had landed in. Luke was amused too, but he contained his laughter as he stepped in front of Ben, blocking his view of the wider landscape.

“We’re not that old,” he said, crossing his arms against his chest. “And I’m certainly not retired.”

Ben looked off to the side instead of responding. He didn’t care anyway. He was just tired of them pretending like this trip would yield anything worthwhile.

Sensing his anger, Luke’s own expression grew serious. He stared at Ben so intently that Ben couldn’t help but stare back.

“The Force is everywhere, Ben. I’ve taught you that. All across the galaxy, the Jedi established temples, and even today, those temples are important. But the Force isn’t to be explored only near temples or even only in places with historical connections to the Jedi; the Force is important everywhere. Don’t discount Naboo because it has no temple. We can’t know what we’ll find until we allow the Force to guide us.”

Ben took a deep breath. Luke had never led him astray when it came to the Force, and perhaps he was right. The Force was everywhere, including Naboo, and it flowed through everything on the planet whether most of its people accepted it or not.

“Do you think we’ll find something then?” he asked his uncle, his curiosity piqued for the first time.

“I trust that the Force will tell us that in time,” Luke said with a smile. “But it might not only be the Force that has something to show us here. Did your parents mention that your grandmother was from Naboo?”

Ben’s eyes widened. He’d never thought much about having a grandmother, let alone her life.

“No,” he said. “You mean my Skywalker grandmother?”

His mother had told him many stories about the Organas. Ben knew small aspects of their personalities that he was sure no one outside their family and close friends had known in their lifetimes. Ben thought he could recognize them if they were standing in front of him.

The Skywalkers and even the Solos were more of a mystery. If he was being honest, he didn’t much care about the Solos anyway. As far as he could tell, his father’s silence on that subject was because they hadn’t been that great to begin with, and Ben thought they might deserve their obscurity.

But the Skywalkers were different. Ben knew the name held a significance even to those outside of his family. He knew that his grandfather had once wielded a lot of power, but he knew that there was more that no one had dared to tell him.

“Yes, that grandmother,” Luke said with a small, almost said, smile. “But she was never technically a Skywalker. Like your mother, she kept her last name after marriage.”

Ben felt a tug that wanted to pull him forward. It might have been the Force telling him that this was important information or perhaps it was nothing more than his own curiosity.

“What was her name?”

Luke grew quiet, his eyes focused on something behind Ben. The boy knew when his uncle shut down. He’d said more than Ben’s parents wanted him to know. Ben deflated as the opportunity passed.

“This trip is to look for anything of interest to the Jedi,” Luke said, his face impassive. “We can discuss personal matters later. All I’m saying is don’t underestimate this place, kid.”

He followed Lor, leaving Ben to stare in his wake. The field was wide, allowing them to see far towards the horizon. He didn’t bother following his uncle as he let his eyes gaze over the landscape, soaking it in.

If his grandmother had lived here, Darth Vader might have visited too. The idea was odd. Nothing about Ben’s concept of the man fit with such a provincial place. Ben had never bothered to think of his grandmother before, but suddenly, he couldn’t help but wonder what she’d been like if she’d come from a planet such as Naboo.

Had she been Force-sensitive? Ben couldn’t imagine Darth Vader falling for someone who wasn’t. Ben’s father Han, Lor, his old classmates back on Coruscant. No one understood him if they didn’t also understand the Force. The same most have been even more true for Darth Vader.

Turning his gaze to the ground, Ben noticed a cluster of small white flowers at his feet. He stomped on them, rubbing his food around until they were destroyed. He wasn’t sure why he did it other than that his dislike for the place had intensified suddenly.

If his grandmother was anything like she must have been, she would have despised her homeworld as much as Ben did.

They wouldn’t find anything of interest in such a place. Of that Ben was certain.

* * *

And they didn’t. They traversed Naboo for several days, but despite Luke’s frequent stops to inspect something he thought held promise, they found nothing noteworthy. Ben had never been more thankful to leave a planet than he was when Luke and Nor announced that they’d scoured the parts of Naboo they’d been interested in and were prepared to leave.

Neither of the grown men paid attention to Ben’s triumphant grin at being right about Naboo being inconsequential. They hardly looked at him at all as they set off from the planet to another in the Outer Rim. It still wasn’t the Unknown Regions, but this planet was at least far more promising than Naboo had been. Despite where it sat in the galaxy, less was known about it than its neighbors because of its relative isolation and small population.

It was what Ben imagined Naboo had been like long ago when it was more interesting.

Most importantly, it held an ancient Jedi Temple that had survived the Empire largely intact thanks to the Emperor’s disinterest in the planet. Ben was vibrating with excitement by the time they landed, having looked at the map of the place several times.

There were few details about the temple itself as few had been interested in documenting it or, if they had been, those documents had been destroyed. All things that only made the place draw Ben in more.

The second their ship landed, Ben was off, not paying any mind to the cautions of his uncle behind him. Luke was almost as fast as him anyway, eager to see the temple like Ben was.

They’d landed right next to it, a feat that was relatively simple thanks to the largely empty landscape. In the distance, the outline of a small settlement stood against the horizon, but it wasn’t anything worth paying attention to. Ben imagined it was one of those terrible places where everyone knew everyone as well as their entire life’s stories. Those were places best avoided when possible. They got you into trouble.

He much preferred places like Coruscant, where it was both easier to attain fame and to blend into the crowd as an unknown when needed. The duality of it suited him, but he appreciated places like this when they held temples like the one in front of him.

The stone bricks that made up the place were coated in moss and lichen, which hinted at the temple’s age. Plants grew in cracks, many of them created by the plants themselves, but the overall shape of the temple stood strong. It would have been impressive even if Ben hadn’t felt how strong the Force was around it.

This temple was a holy place certainly and one that had unfortunately been almost lost to time as people abandoned the old religion. Standing in front of it, Ben wanted to sing the temple’s praises to the world. If they came, they might understand the Force.

Monks of a sort came out to greet them. Ben watched them in silence, analyzing their odd flowing robes that looked like knock offs of the Jedi robes of old. They were closer to the Force than most in the Galaxy. Ben felt the Force coalescing around them as Luke spoke to them, but they weren’t Jedi. They would never reach the familiarity that Ben had with the Force, and he mourned for them. If they had been born a few decades later, they would have been prime candidates for his uncle’s training, but fate hadn’t been kind to them.

“The Jedi will forever be indebted to you for what you’ve done here,” Luke said, bowing his head towards the monks.

Ben and even Lor mirrored him, though Ben thought such humility was unnecessary, at least from him and his uncle. They were the people this Temple had been built for, and they belonged there even more than the monks.

“It is our honor, Master Skywalker,” the oldest monk said, a small smile on her lips. “Our families have been maintaining the Temple grounds for generations, even before the Empire attempted to destroy the Jedi Order. We will continue to do so as long as our services are needed.”

An admirable vocation if one couldn’t be a Jedi. While the temple had undoubtedly faced challenges during the Emperor’s reign, there was peace in the air, and Ben imagined a life of tranquility on the temple grounds. Part of him yearned to stay.

“And we are honored by your service,” Luke said. “Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll be here long. I have to get back to my students, but I’ve heard talk of your temple and wanted to see it with my own eyes.”

The older woman smiled at him, her eyes crinkling. One might have thought Luke was the Force incarnate from the way she looked at him and perhaps, to her, he was as good as that.

“We understand, Master Skywalker,” she said. “Our Temple will be available to you whenever you wish to return. My only request is that you visit the sealed room on the far west side before you go. None of us have dared enter it for more than a hundred years.”

Not caring about instructions, Ben stepped forward to stand at Luke’s side. The woman’s gaze found him immediately, her eyes narrowing. She didn’t like him the same way she liked Luke, but Ben didn’t have time to dwell on that.

“Why has it been sealed?” he asked. “What’s in the room?”

The woman addressed Luke when she answered.

“No one knows. That answer is for Jedi only. We can only hope that you will find something useful inside.”

Luke turned to Ben with an intensity in his eyes that Ben normally only saw when they trained. It thrilled him. Perhaps this room was the reason Luke had brought them to such an overlooked planet. There was no telling what secrets of the Force lurked inside, hidden away for a century.

“Of course we’ll check it out for ourselves,” Luke told the woman with a smile. “It would be foolish of us not to.”

Ben bobbed on his toes. The Force ebbed and flowed around him, growing stronger by the second as it anticipated what was to come. Though he hadn’t known of the room’s existence until a minute earlier, the room was why he had come.

Luke ignored his eager nephew and turned to Lor, who had remained still as a statue behind them throughout the exchange. Ben didn’t bother to look at the older man as Luke addressed him.

“Will you be okay out here by yourself?” he asked.

Lor let out an undignified snort.

“I have been travelling this galaxy since long before we met,” he said in a smug voice that irritated Ben even when it wasn’t directed at him. “I will be perfectly fine here. Better than fine even. The chance to explore this holy place on my own will be an honor.”

Luke inclined his head towards him and looked at his nephew. Ben sucked in a large breath, straightening to his full height in anticipation of what was to come.

“Let’s go,” Luke said simply, turning and walking towards the room without another word.

Ben reacted fast, keeping himself one step behind Luke the whole way there. Neither of them needed the directions of those who tended to the Temple. The room called to them on its own. Ben was sure not even those who had lived there their entire lives knew the full extent of the room’s pull. Even those who were Force-sensitive wouldn’t feel it in the same way that Ben and Luke did. Some things required adequate training unless you were truly remarkable.

The door to the room appeared at the end of a long, winding hall that was impressive in and of itself. The stone walls on either side were covered in carvings. Ben wished the call would lessen long enough for him to observe what the carvings depicted, but he couldn’t slow his footsteps anymore than Luke could.

The door wasn’t really a door. It was an extension of the wall with no handle to speak of, yet both knew what it was as they came to a stop in front of it. The expanse of stone held carvings that carried over from the rest of the hall, and Ben was compelled to focus on them.

Two swirling forces intertwined, wrapping around each other repeatedly in an elaborate design that Ben’s eyes could hardly make sense of. He stared at it, his uncle forgotten, and his brain slowly digested what it was seeing. There weren’t two of anything. All of it was one Force, overlapping, diverging, and even struggling with itself in different parts of the carving.

A chill travelled down Ben’s spine though he didn’t understand why the carving unnerved him. The Force was complex; he had long known that. This carving was just another illustration of a basic fact, and it was an impressive representation of it at that. No one could have carved such a piece without the help of the Force, and Ben could only imagine what the wall hid behind it.

With a steady hand, Luke touched the wall. It quivered the second Luke made contact. Even Ben felt it in the Force. He held his breath as the wall dissolved, revealing a plain room behind it.

Ben brushed past Luke, all thoughts of seniority forgotten. The room was dusty; the monks hadn’t been lying when they said that it hadn’t been entered for a century or more. It also held none of the carvings of the outside. Each wall was plain stone. There was nothing remarkable about the room in appearance except the ways in which it hadn’t been maintained. 

Yet the Force was strong inside, and that was enough to declare the room faultless.

Ben hadn’t expected the room long when his vision blurred. The walls dissolved around him, and he found himself on Coruscant, a planet he hadn’t visited since being brought under Luke’s wing.

Around him was a gathering place of sorts. The edges of the vision remained just blurry enough that he couldn’t work out the finer details. What was jarring was the amount of people around him. They cheered or, at least, Ben thought it was cheering at first. As he stared at the people—all of them strangers—he realized that they were jeering. His eyes jumped from person to person, but he couldn’t decipher what was happening.

It was the exact opposite of the clarity that the Force had always brought him, and it alarmed him.

Wanting it to be over, he reached for his lightsaber and found it safely at his side. The familiarity of it was comforting as Ben pulled it from its holster and activated it. None of the people around him reacted to him drawing the weapon, but they fell as Ben took them out one-by-one. These weren’t people, after all, they were merely representations of people created by the Force. And Ben wanted them gone. For once, he didn’t like what the Force was showing him, and he knew he had to take things into his own hands.

The last of the illusions fell, and Ben realized how many dead bodies there were scattered around him. He collapsed on the floor, unable to breathe. His actions hadn’t given him any more clarity.

What could the Force possibly want him to know?

He fainted from a lack of oxygen only towake up seconds later with Luke standing above him. There was a frown on his teacher’s face. Ben stared at him, not sure how to react. Had Luke seen everything Ben had? Had he had different visions that were just as confusing?

“Let’s go,” Luke said the second he realized that Ben was lucid.

He turned and fled from the room, not making any effort to check whether Ben was okay. Ben checked himself over but found nothing physically wrong with his body. Everything he had witnessed was inside his own brain, which only meant that it was more terrifying.

What had his uncle seen to shake him?

At least he had recovered more quickly. Ben rose on shaky legs, one hand finding his lightsaber still safely stored in its holster. He patted it but otherwise left it untouched as he followed his uncle without another glance over his shoulder.

* * *

His uncle’s behavior was strange after they left the temple behind. He wouldn’t look Ben in the eye and focused too intently out the window as they flew through space.

Ben didn’t know what his uncle had witnessed, but he suspected it was about him. The idea of Luke seeing Ben’s own vision filled him with embarrassment but also angered him. The vision hadn’t been his fault! He longed to ask Luke about it but refused to do so in front of Lor, who lounged behind Luke as if nothing was out of the ordinary for his two companions.

Never before had Ben disliked the man so much. No matter what Luke had seen, Ben knew the Force had communicated with both of them. Lor, meanwhile, remained unchanged and apparently didn’t comprehend that something of importance had happened.

“Why do you come along on these trips?” Ben asked him. “You’re not Force-sensitive. Why exert yourself in a futile search for connection with it?”

Luke huffed from the pilot’s seat but didn’t turn around to intervene like he’d done the first several times he’d introduced Ben to Lor. The older man wasn’t offended anyway, or at least he didn’t show it if he was. He smirked at Ben, shaking his head in amusement.

“You’re right that I’m not Force-sensitive,” he said with a shrug, “but you’re wrong in thinking that these trips exhaust me. I’m an explorer by nature; I truly believe it’s what I was born to do. I’ll never have the relationship with the Force that you do, but that does not mean I can’t enjoy getting closer to it in my own way.”

Ben didn’t believe it. To him, it had always been strange that certain people could profess to believe in the Force without being Force-sensitive. He accepted, of course, that among Force-sensitives there would always be some variation in strength. He and his uncle had been chosen to have a particularly strong relationship with it, but Ben didn’t trust people who claimed to believe while also admitting they couldn’t sense a damn thing. It didn’t make sense.

But voicing that out loud was sure to get him in trouble with Luke, who Ben knew was listening to their conversation even if he pretended not to be. As his training progressed and Ben learned more for himself, he was beginning to doubt a few things about the Force that his uncle considered pivotal.

Shaking his head, he went to the back of the ship where his rucksack was stored. The small book he’d snagged from a trader was there, carefully wrapped in some of his clothes at the bottom of the bag.

He’d never stolen before, which might have surprised some who knew who his father was. It wasn’t something that had occurred to Ben that he could do before. He just hadn’t needed to. 

When they’d stopped to buy some supplies, though, Ben had been drawn to the book in a way he could attribute only to the Force, and somehow, he’d known Luke wouldn’t let him buy it. Instead, he’d slipped it into his pocket and left without anyone being wiser.

With a careful glance over his shoulder, he made sure that no one was hovering. Lor and Luke were still at the front of the ship, out of sight where Ben stood. Holding his breath, Ben flipped the book open to the page he’d fortuitously opened to while in the shop, the one that had shown him that he needed the book.

There was a planet in the Unknown Regions known for Jedi activity, but Ben had never heard of it before. It was sparsely populated, and the Empire had discouraged migration there when it was in power. 

It was just the sort of place they should have been visiting if Luke had his priorities in the right place.

Ben glanced towards the cockpit, wondering if an impassioned defense of the idea would be enough to convince his uncle of what he saw, but he doubted it. His uncle listened to him even less than he had when he was little. Every idea Ben had was dismissed as if it wasn’t worth considering. It didn’t even matter how much thought he put into it before speaking it out loud. The results were the same.

He tucked the book back into his rucksack. Perhaps there would be an opening when he could explain to his uncle and actually be heard. He just had to be patient. The Force wanted him to go there, so we would eventually.

“Ben,” Luke called.

Ben obeyed, ambling towards the cockpit at his own pace. Lor watched him approach with a lazy gaze. He hadn’t moved an inch since Ben left.

“I’ve just spoken with the caretakers at the school. We’re needed there. Our trip must be cut short.”

Fire burned in the pit of Ben’s stomach. Their trips had never been so short before, and he knew for a fact that Luke had planned to be gone for twice as long when they’d set out. Nothing at the school had ever warranted going back early before, and Like gave him no further explanation.

The only possible explanation was what had happened at that Temple, but Ben was the one who’d had a horrifying vision. Why was Luke the one who was frightened enough to flee home?

He didn’t know why things had changed, but he fought the urge to lash out, clenching his hand into a fist.

“With all due respect, Uncle, there’s still plenty for us to see.”

“We’re needed back at the school,” Luke stressed, raising an eyebrow as if challenging Ben to question him further.

He didn’t. He’d learned long ago when things were a losing battle with Luke. They’d be home before Ben had any hope of getting through.

For now, he had to return to safer places, but one day, he would go to Exegol and meet the fate the Force had planned for him.


End file.
